Grandstand. The revelations published in Victor Castanet’s book, The Gravediggers (Fayard, 400 pages, 22.90 euros), are appalling. They ask many questions about the accompaniment of our seniors, its financing, its organization. In fact, if certain managers of private commercial nursing homes with unacceptable practices have thus hit the headlines, these revelations are a reminder that the autonomy of all is a question of society and citizenship. It cannot be confined to the sole dimension of accommodation. For the record, the support of our elders is done first and foremost at home. If the latter is organized in a very different way than in an establishment, it nevertheless refers to cross-cutting issues such as staffing needs and the promotion of care professions. However, many margins of progress remain.
The various government plans that have made home support a political ambition for nearly twenty years are thus based on the involvement of more than 550,000 employees, mainly women. However, not all are housed in the same boat. Differences in status remain between home helps, depending on whether they work for the voluntary, private or public sectors. With equal trade and skills, professionals in the public sector are today penalized in an unfair and flagrant way.
Home care is acclaimed and praised for its advantages, and this without the need for comparisons with the scandalous practices of residential accommodation. It contributes to the implementation of a more inclusive policy for people with disabilities. Admittedly costly in terms of public policies (tax credit, exemption from social charges), it also generates tax revenue and economic activity that cannot be relocated.
The demographic outlook make it necessary to invest in adapting housing, mobility aids, services and also training a sufficient number of workers. As a reminder, the 2019 Libault report estimates the needs of the sector at more than 150,000 full-time equivalent jobs due to the aging of the population alone by 2030.
Professionals ignored
Local elected officials are well placed to take the measure of these findings. They are part of their mission of prevention, response to the needs of equipment and local services, and this in coordination with their associative partners. They are even more so with regard to their role of maintaining the social link between and towards their inhabitants, and among them the oldest.
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